


En Garde!

by karrenia_rune



Category: Space Cases (TV)
Genre: Community: smallfandomfest, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-23
Updated: 2015-05-23
Packaged: 2018-03-31 20:50:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3992407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"</p>
            </blockquote>





	En Garde!

The tip of the blade hovered a mere three inches from his nose but Radu did not so much as flinch. While he was aware that Harlan’s attacks were becoming increasingly more and more aggressive as their sparring match went on; he figured it had to be because Harlan was naturally both aggressive and competitive. 

In the privacy of his own mind Radu wondered if that was the reason why he hadn’t been able to emerge more fully out of his own shy observer nature that he’d adopted ever since he’d been sent as the first of his people to attend the Star Academy. 

Back at the academy Radu had felt very much out of place and an outsider. This was not new territory he’d been thrust into. 

Even among his own people he’d felt very much the outsider and the communal nature of Andromedan society discouraged these kinds of traits, that sense of being the first to attend the Star Academy had become both a kind of bittersweet achievement. 

Radu was also not the type to brood or dwell overly long on such things but in the back corners of his mind which he relegated such things; the thought the elders among his people might have done so just to be rid of a problematic individual resided there nonetheless.

Oh, he’d gotten better ever since he and his class of misfits had boarded and in a rather inexplicable manner bonded with the essence that was the alien ship known as the Christa. 

Harlan Band, his opponent, clad alike in the full-body white fencing outfit was sweating, the perspiration making the cloth stick to his torso and also made his chocolate brown skin glisten. Harlan had nothing personal against Radu as an individual. 

 

Even if he were forced to admit it to himself, no, it was the fact that was Radu was an Andromedan and his people had taken part in the Spung Space Dog war and during that conflict, the Andromedans had fought on the side of the Spung.

That was bad enough, but to add insult to injury, Harlan’s father had been killed fighting the Andromedans. The fact that they had been all but conscripted, forced to fight a war that they had had no say in, no choice never entered Harlan’s thought processes. 

He didn’t hate Radu, but his presence brought up all the bubbling, lingering resentment, frustration and anger up to the surface. And Harlan simply did not know how to find an outlet for it except in momentarily satisfying bit sarcasm. He could not have said why, but as much as he wanted to take it out on Radu he had now begun to warm up to the other boy. The ambivalence made him he very confused and did not like it.

“A touch! Admit it!”

“Admit what?” Radu wondered.

“That I’ve got you now,” exclaimed Harlan.

Radu shrugged those slender but extremely strong shoulders of his, the movement threatening to send his unruly ash blonde locks tumbling out of the tight leather thong with which he’d taken to keep it restrained.

“I guess so,” he added. “Harlan, how long have we been at this?”

“A couple of hours, why?”

“It’s just that I think we should let the others have a turn. Bova….” Whatever else he was about to add about Bova’s sudden interest in learning the finer points of fencing, or about feeling left out were snatched away as he was forced to back-pedal one of Harlan’s wilder swinging lunges and blocked with it with his own sword.

The force of the blow knocked Harlan’s sword out of his grip and sent it flying and cartwheeling end over end until it got stuck in the bulkhead across from where they stood. 

In the course of its headlong flight across the Command Post it also nearly cut a jagged line across the clean-shaven face of their superior officer who had just come in through the doors to run a systems diagnostic; the sharp edge of the blade left a tiny cut but did not draw blood; or if it did, neither cadet could see it from where they stood.

Both boys watched with frozen shock and more than a little bit of worry about what he’d say. Commander Goddard was stern but fair, and it had been an accident. 

Harlan, who considered himself the king of practical jokes aboard ship might have laughed off the incident and said, something along the lines, ‘It’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt; but maybe Goddard was not in the mood for levity.

Goddard glanced at the sword hovering a few feet above his head, glanced back at Radu and Harlan, a vein began to pulse in his brow and wondered how he should handle the situation. 

Given the clues of their white garb, faces masks that had no doubt been discarded somewhere along the way, and the matching sword dangling from his Andromedan navigator’s hand; it was not that difficult to figure out what had happened here.

“Mr. Band, Mr. Radu,” began Goddard. 

Before he could say anything else Harlan immediately chimed in,” Sir, it’s not what it looks like! We're awfully sorry about any damage we may have caused….” and

“Can it, Mr. Band,” Goddard cut off the young rather impulsive pilot with a wave of his hand, “I don’t want to hear it. Want I do want you to do is take off that gear, get this mess cleaned up and once you’re done with that, you will both pull double duty on watch.”

“Yes, sir!” replied both young men.

“And, oh, one more thing, added Goddard, “One more thing, before you, go, “Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here; this is the war room.”

“Huh?” Harlan muttered,” I thought it was the ComPost.”

“Space-age smart-alecks,” muttered Goddard. “I don’t suppose either of you gets the reference but the gist of it is, no more of this push and pulling especially here, or I’ll have to come up with a much more inventive punishment for the both of you. Got it?”

They sucked in their breath and held it for a heartbeat or two before letting it out again, then replied with a brisk ‘Yes, Sir,’

“Good,” stated Commander Goddard. “I trust that we won’t be having this conversation again.”

“No, Sir,’” they said.

“Then it’s settled. Oh, and one more thing. Do try to get along. Okay?”

“Okay,” replied Radu.

Harlan frowned and muttered. “Okay.”

Goddard pinned Harlan with a hard stare.

“Okay,” Harlan replied much more firmly.

“It’s late,” Goddard added in a much more milder tone, “Why don’t you two go back to bed, and be back for watch duty at 0900 hours.”

Both boys nodded and left, adding “Yes, Sir!” over their shoulders as they went.

Goddard shook his head and allowed himself a half-smile. “Boys will be boys. But they really need to get along around here. We’ll need all hands on deck if want to get back to the Star Academy in one piece.”


End file.
